Pittsburgh Corning Corporation (PCC) was formed through the merger of Corning Glass Works and Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company in 1937. From 1937 to 1960, PCC was a manufacturer of windows and glass blocks for architectural, commercial, and residential use.
In 1961 PCC entered into a business agreement with UNARCO (Union Asbestos and Rubber Company) to begin selling Unibestos, an asbestos-containing insulation product used widely in industrial settings. PCC purchased the Unibestos manufacturing facilities in Tyler, TX and Port Allegheny, PA from UNARCO in 1962, making Unibestos an official PCC product.
Unibestos was described by Pittsburgh Corning as “rigid 3-foot long, half cylinders of thermal insulation for piping.”
Unibestos was composed of 65% Amosite asbestos fiber and 35% sodium silicate and diatomaceous earth.
Due to a number of economic factors, PCC stopped manufacturing and selling Unibestos in 1972. The following is an excerpt of the minutes of the December 1st, 1971 Board of Directors meeting for PCC.
Pittsburgh Corning started facing asbestos injury lawsuits in the late 1960’s.
By the time it filed for bankruptcy protection in April of 2000, PCC claimed it had “expended in excess of $1.4 billion in insurance proceeds and corporate funds in the defense and settlement of approximately 230,000 asbestos bodily injury claims.”
PCC filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on April 16, 2000. The bankruptcy concluded with an asbestos trust that was funded with approximately $4 billion dollars.
The PCC trust began accepting claims on March 21st of 2017. The payment percentage in 2021 was 30.1%.
In 2021, 14,528 claims were filed against the trust. The trust paid 35,055 claims with many of those having been filed prior to 2021.
$362 million dollars was paid to 8,470 individuals who had cancer and to 26,585 individuals who had asbestosis or pleural disease.
The trust still has $1.67 billion remaining for the payment of claims.
We’ve helped thousands of people receive the compensation they deserve for their asbestos injuries. Let us help you. You can contact asbestos attorney Justinian C. Lane at Asbestos Claims Law via his website at http://www.AsbestosClaims.law.
Email directly at help@asbestosclaims.law.
Or call anytime at (833) 4-ASBESTOS (427-2378).
